National Weather Service

Melbourne, Florida http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/

Tropical Storm Debby brings tornadoes, wind damage and heavy rain

to East Central Florida

June 23-27, 2012

Tropical Storm Debby formed in the south central Gulf of Mexico on June 23, then moved slowly northeast. The storm

made landfall near Steinhatchee in the Florida Big Bend on June 26th,.

. Debby quickly weakened into a tropical

depression after making landfall, and moved east across North Central Florida, exiting into the Atlantic early June 27th.

East Central Florida experienced several effects from Debby, especially as the storm drifted into the northeast Gulf of

Mexico June 24-26th. Four tornadoes were confirmed in East Central Florida, along with one area of straight line wind

damage and heavy rainfall amounts approaching nine inches from northeast Lake County to northwest Volusia County.

Tornado Damage: There were four tornado touchdowns confirmed the evening of June 24

th associated with East Central Florida in an environment

conducive to tornado formation that existed to the east of Debby in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. Three of these tornadoes formed

within a long-tracked mini-supercell that traveled north from northern Okeechobee County to northern Brevard County. The fourth

tornado was associated with a long-track mini-supercell that moved from Polk into southeast Lake County (see Tornado 4, below).

Tornado #1:Yeehaw Junction RATING: EF-0

ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 65-75 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 3.1 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 100 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE JUN 24 2012

START TIME: 955 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 2 S YEEHAW JUNCTION / OSCEOLA COUNTY / FL

START LAT/LON: 27.6694 / -80.8961

END DATE: JUN 24 2012

END TIME: 1001 PM EDT

END LOCATION: 1 NNW YEEHAW JUNCTION / OSCEOLA COUNTY / FL

END_LAT/LON: 27.7101 / -80.8962

SURVEY SUMMARY:

This was the first of three tornadoes associated with the Tropical Storm Debby mini super-cell that tracked from Okeechobee County

to Brevard County. The tornado touched down in a wooded area south-southwest of Highway 441, about one mile south of the State

Road 60 intersection then traveled north for 3.1 miles, crossing Highway 441, State Road 60 and the Florida Turnpike. Considerable

tree damage, mainly to pines and small brush occurred along the path. The tornado moved between the turnpike toll booth and an

adjacent vacant motel, producing minor structural damage and downing trees. The debris damaged a parked car in the toll booth

parking lot. One vehicle driving on the turnpike sustained damage from a falling tree. The damage location was also consistent with a

very strong rotational signature, reflectivity hook echo and tornado debris signature on the NWS Melbourne Dual-Pol radar data.

Osceola County Emergency Management assisted with the damage survey.

Hook echo near Yeehaw Junction

A few pictures from the damage survey:

TORNADO #2 Deer Park RATING: EF-0 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 65-70 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 1.2 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 50 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: JUN 24 2012

START TIME: 1046 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 2 NE DEER PARK / OSCEOLA COUNTY / FL

START LAT/LON: 28.1035 / -80.8760

END DATE: JUN 24 2012

END TIME: 1047 PM EDT

END LOCATION: 3 NNE DEER PARK / OSCEOLA COUNTY / FL

END_LAT/LON: 28.1202 / -80.8763

SURVEY SUMMARY:

This was the second of three tornadoes associated with the Tropical Storm Debby mini-supercell that tracked from Okeechobee

County to Brevard County. The tornado produced a damage path through a wooded area within the Kempfer Ranch and Deseret

Ranch in far eastern Osceola County, about one mile north of U.S. Highway 192. The damage path cut through an area of mainly pine

trees and damaged a fence. The damage location was also consistent with a very strong rotational signature, reflectivity hook echo,

and tornado debris signature on the NWS Melbourne Dual-Pol radar data. Osceola County Emergency Management assisted with the

damage survey.

Tornado debris indicated (left) and hook echo near Deer Park (right).

A couple of pictures from the damage survey:

TORNADO #3 West of Titusville RATING: EF-0 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 50-55 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 1.2 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 25 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: JUN 24 2012

START TIME: 1137 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 5 SSW TITUSVILLE / BREVARD COUNTY / FL

START LAT/LON: 28.5314 / -80.8614

END DATE: JUN 24 2012

END TIME: 1138 EDT

END LOCATION: 4 SW TITUSVILLE / BREVARD COUNTY / FL

END_LAT/LON: 28.5483 / -80.8617

SURVEY SUMMARY:

This was the third and final tornado associated with the Tropical Storm Debby mini-supercell that tracked from Okeechobee County to

Brevard County. The tornado touched down south of State Road 50 and west of Interstate 95, to the west of Titusville. This location

was also just north of The Great Outdoors RV park. Two motorists traveling on State Road 50 observed the tornado briefly touch

down, illuminated by lightning strikes just to the south of their locations. One of the motorists provided a detailed eyewitness account

of the tornado touchdown. While there was little for the tornado to damage in the immediate area, a path of downed tree limbs was

noted immediately after passage of the tornado, from near the entrance of the RV Park to State Road 50.

TORNADO #4 Southeast Lake County RATING: EF-0 RATING: EF-0

ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 65-70 MPH

PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 3.7 MILES

PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 100 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: 0

START DATE: JUN 24 2012

START TIME: 859 PM EDT

START LOCATION: 8 SE CLERMONT / LAKE COUNTY / FL

START LAT/LON: 28.4849 / -81.6609

END DATE: JUN 24 2012

END TIME: 905 PM EDT

END LOCATION: 5 WSW WINTER GARDEN / LAKE COUNTY / FL

END_LAT/LON: 28.5386 / -81.6622

SURVEY SUMMARY: A mini-supercell traveled from central Polk County to southeast Lake County and produced an EF-0 tornado along a discontinuous

path of 3.7 miles within Winter Garden in Lake County, just west of the Orange County line. The storm crossed Johns Lake,

producing tornado damage on both the south and immediate north sides of the lake. Numerous trees were damaged as far south as

Avalon Woods Drive, with four adjacent homes at the northern end of the path in the Suburban Shores subdivision experiencing

property damage. This damage consisted of large branches on a vehicle, a large tree on the roof of a home, and other homes with

significant damage to pool screen enclosures.

NWS Melbourne is appreciative of Osceola, Lake and Brevard County Emergency Management Agencies for

their assistance with these storm surveys and to the many citizens who contributed detailed observations

which allowed for a more complete record of tornado impacts.

Winds: The highest winds associated with Debby in East Central Florida occurred on June 25-26. The highest sustained wind was 26 knots

from the southwest at Fort Pierce the afternoon of June 26th

, and the highest peak gust was 42 knots from the southwest at Vero Beach,

also occurring the afternoon of June 26th

.

There were straight-line wind damage reports from the Kissimmee area the evening of June 24th

.

Below is a sampling of lowest pressures/highest winds in East Central Florida:

METAR OBSERVATIONS...

NOTE: ANEMOMETER HEIGHT IS 10 METERS AND WIND AVERAGING IS 2 MINUTES

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LOCATION ID MIN DATE/ MAX DATE/ PEAK DATE/

LAT LON PRES TIME SUST TIME GUST TIME

DEG DECIMAL (MB) (UTC) (KT) (UTC) (KT) (UTC)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

KDAB-DAYTONA BEACH INTL, FL

29.18 -81.05 1001.6 26/2248 170/021 25/1927 160/032 25/2023

KFPR-FORT PIERCE/ST LUCIE CO INTL, FL

27.49 -80.36 1003.9 26/2151 210/029 26/1854 210/038 26/1712

KLEE-LEESBURG INTL, FL

28.82 -81.80 1000.9 26/2204 190/025 25/2227 140/034 25/0307

KMLB-MELBOURNE INTL, FL

28.10 -80.64 1002.9 26/2202 200/025 26/1805 200/033 26/1804

KMCO-ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL, FL

28.42 -81.31 1001.9 26/2304 200/025 26/1845 180/033 25/2118

KORL-ORLANDO EXECUTIVE, FL

28.54 -81.33 1001.9 26/2152 190/027 25/2107 190/039 25/2105

KSFB-ORLANDO/SANFORD, FL

28.77 -81.24 1001.2 26/2241 170/026 25/1957 200/034 25/2151

KVRB-VERO BEACH, FL

27.65 -80.41 1003.9 26/2153 210/031 26/1839 220/042 26/1838

KOBE-OKEECHOBEE COUNTY AP, FL

27.26 -80.85 9999.0 / 190/023 26/1755 190/034 26/1755

KCOF-PATRICK AFB/COCOA, FL

28.23 -80.60 1003.3 26/2155 220/027 27/0955 200/039 26/1850

KSUA-WITHAM FIELD/STUART,FL

27.18 -80.22 9999.0 / 220/025 26/2147 190/040 26/1547

KTIX-SPACE COAST REGIONAL/TITUSVILLE, FL

28.51 -80.79 9999.0 / 200/218 26/1650 200/034 26/1747

KISM-KISSIMMEE GATEWAY AP

28.29 -81.43 9999.0 / 220/020 26/2050 190/036 26/1750

KXMR-CAPE CANAVERAL AFS SKID STRIP

28.46 -80.56 1002.8 26/2105 180/023 26/1255 180/036 26/1911

NON-METAR OBSERVATIONS...

NOTE: ANEMOMETER HEIGHT IN METERS AND WIND AVERAGING PERIOD IN

MINUTES INDICATED UNDER MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WIND IF KNOWN

---------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION ID MIN DATE/ MAX DATE/ PEAK DATE/

LAT LON PRES TIME SUST TIME GUST TIME

DEG DECIMAL (MB) (UTC) (KT) (UTC) (KT) (UTC)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

TOWER #22

28.80 -80.74 I 150/035 25/0450 150/049 25/0450

Rainfall: Rainfall amounts from Debby varied widely, but in general the highest totals occurred north and west of Interstate 4. The highest

totals were from Lake and northwest Volusia Counties, with a few rainfall reports between seven and nine inches. Several locations

along the Space and Treasure Coasts had rain totals below one inch, but there were pockets of rainfall up to 3 to 4 inches in the

southern sections. East Central Florida was in the process of coming out of a drought, so only temporary, nuisance flooding occurred.

DEBBY STORM TOTAL RAINFALL FROM 1200 UTC JUN 23 UNTIL 1200 UTC JUN 27

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CITY/TOWN COUNTY ID RAINFALL

LAT LON (IN)

DEG DECIMAL

---------------------------------------------------------------------

2 W PIERSON INLAND VOLUSIA COUN LGRF1 8.82

29.23 -81.50

2.5 SSW LADY LAKE NORTHERN LAKE COUNT FL-LK-16 7.95

28.89 -81.94

5 SW ASTOR PARK NORTHERN LAKE COUNT CRAF1 7.07

29.09 -81.59

1.2 SE EUSTIS NORTHERN LAKE COUNT FL-LK-2 7.00

28.84 -81.67

LISBON NORTHERN LAKE COUNT LSBF1 7.00

28.87 -81.79

3.6 E CLERMONT SOUTHERN LAKE COUNT FL-LK-16 6.94

28.55 -81.70

7 S CLERMONT SOUTHERN LAKE COUNT CLRF1 6.21

28.45 -81.75

LEESBURG AIRPORT LAKE KLEE 5.79

28.80 -81.88

6.9 SSE CLERMONT SOUTHERN LAKE COUNT FL-LK-13 5.72

28.45 -81.72

2 E ZELLWOOD ORANGE PLTF1 5.54

28.72 -81.57

6.1 SW WINTER GARDEN ORANGE FL-OR-20 5.53

28.49 -81.65

5.7 NW DELAND INLAND VOLUSIA COUN FL-VL-9 5.48

29.09 -81.36